Link

26-06-13

Water shortages in the occupied West Bank: Palestinian youths protest

Youths protest water shortages in Bethlehem camp

Jun 26, 2013 - 12:08:36 AM

Palestinian youths burned tires and briefly stopped traffic on a main Bethlehem road Tuesday, as they protested against water shortages in the occupied West Bank. Several dozen residents of Bethlehem's al-Azza refugee camp joined the demonstration in which participants set fire to tires and blocked traffic with a dumpster they dragged into the center of Manger Street. A Ma'an reporter observed firefighters and police officers arriving at the scene. He said they did not interfere with the demonstration, which ended without injury or damage.

___

Palestinians Protest Israeli Closure of Theater

Jun 26, 2013 - 12:02:02 AM

Palestinians are protesting Israel's closing of their national theater in Jerusalem during a planned children's festival. Administrator Majed Mani of the Hakawati Theater complained that officials from Israel's Ministry of Public Security ordered the theater closed for eight days, canceling the festival, set to feature puppet shows and plays. Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said Tuesday that organizers took funds from the Palestinian Authority, which has self-rule over Palestinians in the West Bank.

___

Israel okays 69 settlement homes on eve of Kerry visit

26/06/2013, 19:39

Settlers attacked dozens of Palestinian vehicles with rocks late Tuesday near Nablus, a Palestinian Authority official said.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an that Israeli forces closed a main road near Yitzhar settlement after settlers attacked dozens of vehicles with stones.

No injuries were reported.

Settlers then set fire to olive trees on Palestinian land in nearby Huwwara village, which destroyed over 5 acres of land.

Settler violence against Palestinian communities and their property is routine in the occupied West Bank, with settlers enjoying widespread impunity for their crimes.

Annual figures compiled by Israeli rights group Yesh Din have repeatedly shown that nine out of 10 police investigations about settler crimes fail to lead to a prosecution.

An Israeli planning committee on Wednesday granted final approval for the construction of 69 settler homes, an official said, on the eve of a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

"The municipal committee has today given its final approval for the construction of 69 homes in Har Homa in east Jerusalem," councillor Meir Margalit said.

The approval was granted by the municipal planning committee just hours before Kerry touched down in Amman on his fifth visit to the region since February as he steps up efforts to draw Israel and the Palestinians back into direct negotiations.

"This a blind provocation against Kerry," said Margalit, who is a member of the leftwing Meretz party.

"It proves just how much the government of Bibi (Benjamin) Netanyahu wants peace," he retorted, using the nickname of the Israeli prime minister.